


Undead West

by DarknessRequiem



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Connor, Except Connor he's an android, Gen, Hank's a protective dad, M/M, Markus is a rebel, Silly zombies, Sumo's a BAMF, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies can't see androids, everyone's a human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-05-25 18:45:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessRequiem/pseuds/DarknessRequiem
Summary: The world finds itself in a horrible state after an unknown virus fell upon mankind, turning a good chunk of the population into mindless undead wanting only flesh. Markus lives with his colony inside the misplaced ship Jericho in the middle of the desert. One day while scavenging for food he stumbles upon a strange man who is able to walk among the undead with ease. What does an android, a grumpy old man and a dog have to do with stopping the undead?Apparently, everything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Why hello there! Would it shock you to know that I feel there aren't enough zombies in Detroit: Become Human and I've decided to correct that issue in this story I've composed for you here? Zombies are cool because they eat people and are in all of the Resident Evil games, and androids are cool because they're androids and zom-zoms don't want to eat them! Also, there's nowhere near enough Markus/Connor in this fandom and what else could bring two super hot guys closer than zombies?

"Markus!"

Hearing his name being called caught his attention, just in time, for as he turned to look at North he realized there was an undead right behind him going for an attack. He pulled his right arm back and swung forward, his machete sinking into the creature's skull with a sickening 'slurp'. He watched as it fell in front of him, now permanently deceased.

North ran up to him, her orange hair a mess before harshly punching him in the shoulder, "What the hell Markus!?"

"Ow! Right back at you!" he snapped, his mis-matched eyes narrowing back in response as he grabbed at where she had hit him.

"Don't give me that shit! That undead was making so much noise I thought you were faking not hearing it just to give it some hope before you killed its ass! Apparently that wasn't the case!"

As angry as the darker skinned male was at his friend, he couldn't say she was wrong: he hadn't heard that undead come up on him, which he would've considered strange except for the fact that his mind had been filled with worry all week.

He looked around the now empty warehouse before returning his attention to North, somewhere in the background he could hear Josh and Simon knocking pretty much everything over in an attempt to locate some usable supplies. The sun was high in the sky, giving the small group plenty of light to work with in abandoned building.

"Shit, sorry North," he apologized, "I'm just worried about Rutledge."

She frowned, "Our sister settlement?"

"Yeah, they've been radio silent for just over a week and Carl won't send anybody to investigate what's happened to them."

"You know why," Josh replied as he walked up with Simon and a few boxes of what looked to be canned food.

"It's because he knows that if he sends anyone, even a well armed group, it's going to probably end up with everyone getting killed; Carl doesn't want to put lives in danger if it can be helped," the blond haired male, Simon, replied as he held onto the cardboard boxes, "Check out what we found! The last group that scavenged this building didn't do a very good job; there's a whole back room filled with food and medical supplies!"

Markus and North blinked in shock, "You're kidding?" the male replied.

"Nope!"

"Most groups aren't that sloppy," North pointed out, "They were probably pressed for time and couldn't look through the whole building."

Markus frowned as he looked out the huge hole in the warehouse wall that had been smashed in at some earlier point. There were no signs of vehicle doing this and there was no way a human could have done this on their own. That could only mean that a pretty strong undead managed to smash their way into the building and left this nifty gift behind.

"Let's just grab what we can and get out of here before it gets too late, I do _not_ want to drive back to Jericho in the dark," he replied before helping Simon with some of the boxes and heading out of the building to where they had parked their truck.

"Sounds like a plan," North agreed before turning her attention to Josh in order to get the location of the secret room that held valuable supplies.

The drive back was, thankfully, uneventful. The desert was peacefully empty, aside from a few wandering undead here and there, but nothing worth worrying over.

Markus and North were currently sitting in the bed of the truck, the silence hanging heavy between them. Markus would occasionally look up to the female, wanting to say something, only to give up and revert his attention back to the empty land beyond.

Truthfully North was glad that her friend wasn't saying what was on his mind, because she knew damn well what he wanted to bring up: Rutledge. Markus had several friends who lived there and not hearing from them in so long was causing worry to well up in his chest, as well as her own. Everyone in Jericho was worried about the other settlement they had become allies with, but knew that traveling there was far too risky, especially with no guarantee that there would be any humans left there to greet them once they arrived.

She decided to try to get Markus's mind off it.

"Hey! You like peaches, right?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time you got to have any?"

"I don't know, it had to have been at least six months ago," he replied.

North smiled as she reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a can of peaches before lightly tossing them over to Markus, "Well now you can have some!"

The smile that crossed Markus's face was well worth it as he caught the can in his hands, "Really!? That's awesome! I can't believe there are still canned peaches lying around! I thought they had all been eaten after the outbreak!"

"Not everybody likes peaches, Markus," North winked before laying against the edge of the bed, allowing her arms to stretch out on either side of her as she looked out to the desert.

"Thanks North! I don't think I would have noticed these!"

"With all the worrying you do? Simon would have eaten them before you even figured out they were there," she grinned.

Markus couldn't help the smile that graced his lips; she was probably right.

It was nearing dusk by the time they were able to see Jericho on the horizon, Markus and North now both standing up in the bed with their hands on the top of the cab as they looked at the settlement they called their home. Nobody had any idea as to how it had actually gotten in the middle of the desert, but Jericho was actually a huge freight ship that had been found just chilling in the sand.

There had been plenty of supplies on board, including enough that were used to build a small wall around part of the ship so that vehicles could be safely parked and kept away from the undead in times of need. The ship itself was huge and able to house several hundred people, though Jericho's numbers were right now only around two hundred or so. It even had generators so that once night fell nobody had to be in the dark.

They arrived at the walled area, the gates opening for them as Josh slowed them down and pulled in, said gates closing securely behind them.

One of the male guards walked up to them, "Hey guys! Any luck today?"

North smiled as she poked her head out from behind the cab, "You bet Ash! We found a bunch of canned food and some medical supplies in one of the warehouses outside the old city!"

"Shut the hell up, for real!? It's about time we got some good news around here!" he replied.

"It's nice when things go our way," Josh replied as he and Simon exited the cab, Markus hopping out from the bed of the truck. Just in time, for an older gentleman walked up to the group with the assistance of a walking cane.

"With all of these smiling faces, am I right to assume that you've found something of use?" he asked.

"Hey dad!" Markus greeted as he ran up and gave his father a hug, "Yeah, we found a bunch of supplies in one of the old warehouses."

"That's wonderful, I was starting to worry that there wasn't anything left," he replied, "I don't want to harvest the gardens completely dry unless necessary."

"Can't blame you sir," North greeted as she walked up, watching a few members of Jericho walk up and begin unloading the bed of the truck.

"Dad, I want to talk to you about Rutledge-" Markus started, North's eyes widening in shock at the fact that he was bringing it up, again, with Carl.

"How many times do I have to tell you Markus? No. It's too dangerous, we're not sending anybody out there-at least not until we get some sort of signal that someone is alive.

"But dad-"

"Not another word on the subject Markus," Carl's voice was final, the younger male sighing as he adverted his gaze from his father. North knew that Markus hadn't dropped the subject, he'd probably bring it up again given enough time. She watched as her friend walked towards the actual entrance to Jericho before making to follow.

"North, a word," Carl said, catching her attention.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm worried about Markus. I know he has a a lot of friends that live in Rutledge, and I'm afraid he might try to do something rash about it. If you could, please keep an eye on him? I'm afraid the boy takes his toll on my old body."

"I'm sure he doesn't do it on purpose."

"I couldn't agree with you more! However, I don't want him to try anything risky-"

"Like sneaking out in the middle of the night or something equally stupid?"

"Exactly."

"Don't worry Carl, I'll keep an eye on him. Besides, who would be stupid enough to actually consider going out at night?"

* * *

"Connor! Where the hell do you think you're going!?" a gruff voice called out, catching the attention of the brown haired younger male, who was currently standing frozen in place in front of the door frame of the abandoned building they were currently using as their camp.

He carefully turned around, averting his eyes from the glare he was currently on the receiving end of.

"I was...just going out?" he offered.

"Oh yeah? What for?"

He looked to several empty bottles of booze laying on the floor before looking to the older male he'd been traveling with for several years, "I figured that I might as well go and scavenge some of the local shops around here while you slept so that you'd have something to eat that wasn't booze in the morning," he offered.

"What if you ran into somebody?"

"But it makes sense for me to to scavenging at night by myself! Since I'm an android the undead won't bother me and I'll be able to bring back whatever we need in peace-"

"Yeah, the undead won't bother you, but what about other humans?"

The android looked down at his brown shoes and blue jeans before adjusting the sleeves of his brown jacket and reaching up to adjust his black beanie, "I won't tell them what I am."

"What if they attack you? You know that pretty much every human we've met out there is basically an asshole."

Connor sighed, "I know Hank. I just really think you should be eating something with actual substance instead of getting drunk-what are you doing?"

Hank, the older man Connor was traveling with had decided to stop listening to his companion and was currently tinkering with several vials that were currently sitting on the wooden table in the lonely kitchen they were hiding in.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're trying to mix up something while you're half-drunk, which is a terrible idea."

"That would be right Connor!"

"That it's a terrible idea?"

"No, that I'm working while drunk!"

Connor found himself sighing as he walked over to Hank, "Okay Hank. How about you head to bed and I'll stay here and keep watch. How did you even hear me anyways? I was completely silent."

"Oh? Sumo let me know!"

Connor's attention snapped to the huge St. Bernard that was currently fast asleep in the corner. How the hell Hank was able to figure out that he was attempting to sneak out and wake up in time to stop him was a mystery, but he didn't understand what Sumo had to do with it.

"I'm not sure I completely believe you on this matter," Connor replied as he led Hank back to his sleeping bag, "You can try to find a cure for the undead virus tomorrow. Who knows? Tomorrow might be the day!"

"You say that every night," Hank replied.

"You haven't instructed me to stop, so I'll continue until otherwise stated. How about you get some sleep and I'll wait until morning? We can head out at first light."

"First light? But that's at like...six in the morning!"

"Okay...how about eight?"

"What?"

Connor sighed, "Fine. We'll leave at noon."

"Now that sounds like a plan! We leave at first noon!"

"That's not a real time-"

Connor's words fell on deaf ears, for Hank was already fast asleep on his sleeping back, dead to the rest of the world.

* * *

Connor was sophisticated enough to know that 'first noon' didn't actually mean noon, it was closer to one or two in the afternoon. The first time he'd actually attempted to wake Hank up at legit noon he'd gotten quite an earful that was pretty encouraging in keeping him from repeating his mistake a second time.

He also felt really bad because Hank's yelling had been enough to wake poor Sumo up, and Connor hated it whenever Sumo was disturbed-Sumo was his best friend!

So he allowed Hank to continue to sleep while he focused on getting Sumo up and preparing his vest for him. The huge dog would always travel with them while wearing a special vest that Connor himself had helped Hank with creating. The dog vest itself wasn't anything pretty to look at, it was a brown thing that was covered in computer and mechanical parts that only Connor and Hank could identify.

Once ready he looked over to the fluffy dog, "Are you ready Sumo?"

Sumo's ears perked upon hearing Connor's voice and the dog raised his head to look over at him, the android getting down on his knees with the vest in his left hand.

"Come Sumo!" he beckoned.

Sumo let out a 'boof' before standing up, shaking a bit of his excess fur off, and made his way over to Connor before sitting in front of him, his tail swishing from side to side on the floor. The fact that each swish of his tail conveniently hit Hank in the head had nothing to do with Connor.

Nope, not a thing.

"Gah! Son of a bitch Connor! What the hell are you doing!?" Hank groaned as he sat up, running a hand through the disaster that was his hair as he glared at the android next to him.

The android gave him his best innocent look, "I'm getting Sumo ready for when we leave. It takes a bit of time to get his vest on."

"It's on right now! It took you not even thirty seconds!" Hank accused, pointing to Sumo.

Sure enough, the complicated vest was currently on Sumo, the dog happily wagging his tail and panting.

"Wow Hank, I must be getting better at this! Hey, since Sumo's all dressed up how about we get ready to go?" Connor flashed him one of his brilliant goofy smiles as he stood up, Hank losing all ambition to fight him on the spot.

That damn boy was far too adorable for his own good.

"All right, all right. I'm getting up, but I need a drink first," Hank replied as he reached off to his side and pulled out a bottle of alcohol Connor definitely didn't remember being there the night before.

"Hank, no!" the android scolded as he reached over and grabbed the bottle from his hands, earning an angry groan from the human, "I've told you that drinking excessively is detrimental to your health!" With that, he turned and flung the bottle out one of broken windows with precision, not looking back at Hank until he heard the glass shatter on the pavement below.

"Now we need to-" he paused as he looked back at his human companion, noticing that he was currently downing another bottle of booze that came from seemingly nowhere. He slapped the bottle out of his hand.

"Connor! What the fuck!?"

"Where do you keep getting these bottles, Hank? Are you able to reach into some sort of alternative dimension and pull them out whenever you see fit-because that'd be a pretty useful for storing our supplies!"

"No Connor, I'm not able to do any of what you just said."

"Then where do these bottles keep coming from!?"

"I thought you wanted to get a move on? Tell you what, I'll let you think that over while we're traveling today!" Hank replied as he stood up, "Now where are my pants?"

"Sumo's sitting on them."

"Sumo! Bad dog!"

"Boof!"

* * *

Connor wasn't sure how Hank and Sumo were able to walk among the undead as calmly as they did. Had his beanie not been on his head, he was sure his LED would be glowing a bright red. The three of them kept extremely close to each other, Sumo happily panting as he walked through the heard of undead.

Even though Hank was basically the definition of an alcoholic, he was extremely crafty and intelligent when he really focused on something, especially when it came to keeping their little makeshift family safe from harm.

Before the outbreak Hank had been an engineer at CyberLife, a huge company that had been experimenting with developing androids for quite some time. Although he had spent a good chunk of his time getting drunk he was also their Head of Engineering and was one of the founding fathers of the first androids.

When asked about it Hank had told Connor that there were well over a hundred thousand androids all ready to be shipped out to the rest of the world, CyberLife had made a huge announcement and it wasn't as secret that there would soon be real androids living with humans. However, the sudden appearance of a virus that caused humans to rot away and devour each other was more than enough to stop CyberLife in their tracks. Hank had been one of the first to flee the city, but not without taking his favorite android and dog with him. Connor didn't quite have a full understanding of what exactly was going on around them as they ran, but he knew it was nothing good with how the humans were attacking and eating each other.

It had been pretty scary the first months of living outside of CyberLife with only Hank and Sumo at his side, then again living in CyberLife itself had been pretty lonely and anything-even all of this death-was better than being alone in Connor's opinion.

He looked down to Sumo, whose leash was currently gripped in Hank's hands. The vest he was wearing was giving out a few small 'clicks' every few seconds which Connor was always more than happy to hear. Hank himself wasn't a hundred percent sure as to why his insane plan worked, but this 'anti-undead vest' with its clicking noises was effective enough to keep the undead from...seeing them, in a sense.

Like right now. The small trio were simply walking through well over two hundred undead, said undead moving out of their way if they got too close. They could occasionally moan or look to them, but nothing more. Connor wasn't sure what would happen if one of them made too much noise with this many around, and it wasn't something that he was eager to test.

They made their way down the lifeless strip. Hank had told Connor that this was once part of a city and that every night there would be humans galore, complete with all sorts of lights and musical shows. Connor was a bit sad that he wasn't able to experience such a thing in this current world.

They continued their walk in silence, Connor keeping his eyes open for any stores that looked like they hadn't been picked clean. He spotted one not too far away; it looked like it used to be a grocery store before the outbreak and was filled to the brim with the undead. He silently motioned with his hand, getting Hank's attention.

The older human male looked over and narrowed his eyes, unable to see as well as Connor, but was still able to make out quite a bit on the shelves through the dirty glass. Guess there were just too many undead here for any scavengers to risk it. Worked in their favor, though, and Hank found himself leading Sumo towards the store.

Connor didn't allow him to get very close before holding his right arm out and stopping the two of them, "It's too dangerous for you two. I'll go alone," he whispered.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Hank whispered back.

"No. The store is packed with the undead. We don't need to test the limits of the vest in such a crowded place, Hank. I can confirm there is food in there, maybe I can grab Sumo some dog food?" he offered.

Hank found himself sighing, "Okay. You go in, grab what you can and get the hell out of there, understand?"

"Yes. Where are you and Sumo going to be?"

"Over there," Hank pointed to a relatively empty area, "There's not that many undead there; we should be safe until you get back."

Connor nodded, "I'll be back before you know it."

He watched as Hank and Sumo carefully made their way though the undead, a small whine emitting from the huge dog, which Hank quickly silenced with a reassuring pat on the head.

The android turned and walked easily though the undead to the store. Even though they wouldn't attack him due to his lack of human blood, it was still pretty stressful walking though a heard alone. He would occasionally bump into one, which would then cause it to hiss and look...through him in an effort to figure what had bumped into it. None of them could see him, and it was a bit unnerving to watch them look for something they were sure was there. It was almost as if he were on a different plane of existence was how Hank had described it to him.

He entered the grocery store, grabbed a small basket and made his way to the canned goods isle, which just so happened to be the one isle he spotted from the outside. Sure enough the isle itself hadn't been touched, all the cans stocked just like they had been before the outbreak.

Hank was an extremely picky eater-something Connor always gave him sass for being with the world in its current state. He was pretty sure whatever he picked out Hank wouldn't like it and bitch about it until he'd pull out one of those magical bottles from nowhere and try to drink that instead.

One day he was going to figure out how Hank was able to keep pulling that trick on him. Until then, it was time to fill this basket with the first thing he could reach.

"Kidney beans," he whispered. Hank had mentioned a couple of times how he used to enjoy baked beans before the outbreak, maybe he'd like these? In any case, they seemed pretty healthy-something his companion was adamant against. Maybe he'd grab them just to mess with Hank.

Connor eventually decided to just grab as many different cans of beans as the basket would fit. Maybe he should get a shopping cart? Sure, it'd be a little louder but he'd be able to fit more food in it and then they could use it to push Sumo around! He was sure the huge dog would absolutely _love_ that.

An undead bumped into him and sent a threatening growl his way, the android's eyes widening as he remained frozen and watched the creature limber away from him. Maybe he'd just stick with the basket for now.

He filled the basket up as best he could before heading down the isle. Now all he had to do was make his way to the pet isle and grab Sumo some dog food and he could be on his merry way.

The sound of a door closing caught Connor's attention. It was a quiet sound, as if whoever did it didn't want anybody to hear them. Was Hank inside? Maybe it was another human? Hank wouldn't sneak around him like this, not without Sumo and he couldn't hear the soft ticking of the dog's vest anywhere nearby.

He looked to the cash registers, noticing that there was a door behind them that said 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' in big, black lettering. He made his way around the undead, carefully setting his basket on one of the conveyor belts before walking over to the door.

It was a good thing Hank couldn't see him right now, for he'd probably be getting an earful about not listening to him and being just an awful person in general. He reached for the knob and gingerly twisted it, genuinely surprised when it turned. A full twist and he pushed the door open a bit, poking his head in an looking around the employee only room.

Huh, all there was were a bunch of boxes, paperwork, old uniforms, a computer and some severely moldy food that had been left out on the break room table. He pushed the door open the remainder and entered, frowning as he looked at the table. Laying next to it was an old mini fridge, its contents spilled out all over the concrete floor.

Looking to his right revealed a hallway with an 'EXIT' sign hanging from the ceiling. So this was another way out? Maybe he'd use this instead of shuffling through the mass of undead that were clogging up the store. Quite happy with his choice he turned to head back into the store to grab his basket.

He was met with a gun to his face held by a human male with dark skin and mismatched eyes.

"Who the hell are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two meet, only to be interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my! You've all given me so many wonderful comments and kudos I don't know what to do with them all! I suppose I could use them to motivate myself to upload Chapter 2 of Undead West-only holy shit look I'm doing it right now! I must thank all who left kudos and comments, they mean the world to me! Hopefully Chapter 2 is of your liking!

* * *

"Who are you?"

Connor frowned as he slightly raised his hands up in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture, "Hello. My name is Connor," he greeted in what Hank would call his 'polite voice'.

"Connor," the male repeated, his grip on the gun still strong.

"What's your name?" he inquired.

"What?"

"Well, I gave you my name I was hoping that you'd give me yours? Or is that not how it works? I apologize, I've never done this before."

"Done what? Have a gun pointed at your head?"

"Nope."

"All right then. My name's Markus if you're really that pressed on it. Now who the hell are you?"

"I've already given you my name-"

"No! How are you able to walk among the undead like that!? I watched you come into this store, go grocery shopping for twelve minutes and not a single undead bothered you! It's like you weren't there!" Markus whispered, not wanting to catch any unnecessary attention.

Oh crap Markus had seen him? Lucky for Connor his beanie was covering up his LED, which was currently flashing red as he tried to think of _something_ to say to the human before him. Hank had always warned him about revealing his true identity to other humans, but he'd never actually practiced anything else to say to them.

In other words, he had no clue how to reply.

Markus's eyes on him were  really distracting. How was he supposed to come up with anything with the human looking at him like that?

"I'm...one with the undead?" he tried.

Markus's expression quickly shifted into one of straight up confusion, "You're...what?"

"One with the undead?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"I'm doing both."

"What?"

"Exactly," at the very least he was going to confuse Markus. Maybe he'd just give up on his current question and try asking him a different one.

"Are you traveling alone?" Worked like a charm.

"Oh no! I'm with my dad and dog."

"You're traveling with your dad and a dog? Doesn't a dog attract a lot of attention from the undead with all the noise it makes?"

"Oh no, Sumo is a very good dog! The undead only want human flesh so he's never a target!" Connor explained, a smile forming on his lips.

Markus noticed this, "Why are you smiling?"

"I am? I apologize, usually the only person I can talk to is my father; you're the first human I've met besides him! I'm afraid I'm not the best at this."

"Okay, so where's your dad now?"

"He's safely away from here, he'll be fine," Connor replied, "What are you doing here? It's extremely dangerous for a human to be out here by themselves."

"For a human?"

"Yes. You-you're a human. So am I. It's dangerous for us to be out here," the android tried to correct his error.

Markus didn't seem to be buying it. Just as he went to open his mouth to call Connor out on his bullshit, a loud 'ROAR' from outside the building caught both of their attention, the duo freezing in place and looking over to the wall.

"Oh shit it found me!" Markus swore under his breath.

"What found you?" Connor whispered back.

The android's question was answered rather quickly when the wall next to them seemed to explode into the room, the two males raising their arms up to cover their faces from the flying debris. Connor was the first to recover, looking up to see one of the largest undead he'd laid his eyes on.

This creature was standing at an impressive eight foot tall and looked like it still had many of its human features remaining. He could make out a dislocated jaw, a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, pitch black veins and all sorts of horrible growths on its body. The creature also happened to be very muscular, which was uncommon in the undead. Years of being in a non-living state had worn down the muscles of most, but not this one. Bright yellow eyes locked on Markus.

" _That_ found me!"

Connor blinked in shock when Markus flew past him, grabbing his wrist and sprinting down the hallway, the android easily keeping up as the monster undead charged after them-making far too much noise for comfort. The rounded a corner and sure enough there was a door with the word 'EXIT' over it, a way out!

Markus threw himself against the handle, the door amazingly opening and allowing the two of them to escape the building, but not without a rather loud and dangerous monster on their heels. 

* * *

Hank stood next to Sumo, his mouth agape as he heard the sound of pretty much everything in the store breaking, followed by a roar that shook him to the bone. What the hell was Connor  doing!?

He was able to spot the emergency exit from here, said door flying open to reveal a human male hauling ass while holding onto the hand of another-Connor! Not two seconds later and one of the largest undead Hank had ever seen came barreling out the door and continued its chase of the duo.

The older human reached into his holster and pulled out his pistol, trying to figure out just how on earth he was going to get close enough to get Connor away from that human male without getting himself killed in the process.

"All right Sumo! We're heading out!" he said.

Sumo let out an affirmative 'boof' and allowed Hank to lead him to wherever they were going. He didn't care, as long as Connor was there to give him pats and treats!

* * *

Markus and Connor skidded around a corner, the monster still chasing them, only now they had the added problem of there being quite a few undead in front of them. Markus pulled up his gun, ready to shoot at them in an attempt to clear a path.

Connor was able to calculate that with the amount of stress that Markus was under, combined with the fact that they were currently in motion, that the chances of him landing a critical hit on any of the undead was at a mere 23%. Well that wouldn't do.

The android swiftly reached over and grabbed the human's gun, Markus's eyes widening in shock as he aimed with his free hand and fired six shots in succession. All six were head shots, taking out half of the undead that were in front of them and clearing a path for them to continue through.

If Markus wasn't so damn busy getting chased, he was sure he would have stopped on the spot and stare at Connor with his mouth wide open and a look of awe on his face. How the hell did he do that!?

"How the hell did you do that!?" he voiced his internal question as they ran through the small group of the undead, the monster behind them roaring.

Connor allowed himself to look back for a second before grabbing Markus's arm with his free hand and pulling the two of them down. They both fell to the ground in an ungraceful manner, Markus about to sit up and demand an answer for stalling their escape, only to hear a heavy 'whoosh' above them as a dumpster flew right where they had been standing and crashed into the ground before rolling several more yards and coming to a stop.

Well, that answered that question.

"Holy shit," Markus swore, but he didn't have time to stare at what would have killed the two of them for Connor was already back on his feet and dragging him up before continuing their sprint down the road, running around the dumpster that had been thrown at them.

"How did you know that was coming!?" Markus asked as they ran.

"I'll have to ask that you hold any and all questions that you may have for me for a time when we're not getting chased by the undead!" Connor replied as he tried to figure out just where exactly he could take this human that could be classified as 'safe'. He'd be fine, but Markus was going to get his ass eaten at this rate.

A 'beep' emitted from Markus's coat pocket, the male reaching in and pulling out a walkie-talkie, "Where the hell are you guys!?" he exclaimed.

"Oh shut the fuck up I was about to ask you the same thing! What the hell did you do, Markus!? Did you know there's a fucking huge undead behind you!?" North's voice exclaimed through the device.

"Oh shit, really!? I would have never guessed!" Markus snapped, "Where the hell are you guys!?"

"You should be seeing us any second!"

Sure enough at the end of the street a black pick-up truck pulled into view, and boy oh boy was it a beautiful sight! Connor spotted it as well, helping Markus continue his sprint towards his friends.

"Hop on with me and we'll get you somewhere safe!" he instructed.

Connor shook his head, "I can't do that! My dad's out here somewhere! I have to find him!"

"Are you insane!? You'll get yourself killed-there's too many undead out here!" Markus retaliated.

The android thought about rolling his eyes in response, but decided on something a little better. Once close enough to the truck, he swiftly reached down and scooped Markus up under his knees-the male yelping in surprise before he tossed him to the pickup truck.

His aim was perfect; Markus landing in the truck's bed safely and giving him enough time to pull a sharp right and try to head back in the direction that he'd left Hank and Sumo. He heard Markus swear, followed by the sound of peeling tires as the truck sped off in the opposite direction, the huge undead still chasing after them, but now at a great disadvantage since they had a working vehicle.

* * *

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

"Simon, will you stop yelling!?" Josh exclaimed as he maneuvered the truck through the city, that huge undead still trying to chase after them but now nowhere near as close as it'd be to Markus when he was on foot.

North was currently in the bed of the truck with Markus, her eyes wide.

"Holy shit Markus, are you okay!?"

"Yeah...I'm fine. I get thrown fifteen feet into vehicles all the time," he replied.

"Who was that!? He just...he picked you up and threw your heavy ass in here-"

"Hey!"

"-and continued running! That undead...none of the undead around here gave him a second look! He just ran off through them!"

Markus frowned, rubbing his head, "I don't know. I mean, he told me his name: Connor. I found him in one of the grocery stores. He was just walking around the store shopping like there was nothing wrong."

"Were there any undead in there?"

"Only a ton. Oh, and they left him alone."

"What!? They didn't bother him!? Damn, and we lost him too-there's no way we can head back into that cluster-fuck."

"He said he was traveling with his dad and a dog."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I didn't see anybody else around, though. I guess they got separated?"

Simon took this opportunity to slide the rear window of the truck open, "Hey Markus! How's it going?"

"Sup Simon!" he greeted, "Did you guys manage to find anything?"

"We found some supplies, not as much as I wanted but hey, you win some you lose some!" he replied.

"I'd count your being alive as a win," North deadpanned.

"I'd count the fact that I found someone who is immune to the dead as a win," Markus replied.

"It's a half-win. You did lose him."

"Not for long. Josh, take a right here!"

* * *

Connor frowned as he made his way through the city, keeping an eye and ear out for Hank and Sumo. He carefully maneuver around the undead, trying to keep his distance from any of the thicker clusters. He really didn't like walking through them.

"Hank!" he called out, his eyes wide as he scanned the area, "Sumo!?"

Nothing.

He felt worry bloom in his chest. Did something happen to them? Were they okay? What if he left and the undead decided to suddenly see Hank and attack him!? He shouldn't have left-he should have let Markus fend for himself; he seemed capable enough.

"Dad!?" he tried again.

Only the groans of the undead were his answer.

Crap. He had no clue where Hank and Sumo where. They weren't in a huge cluster, so as long as they kept their distance from the huge monster that had been chasing him they should be fine, should being the keyword. Maybe he could head back to the store where they had gotten separated? Was Hank there, waiting for him with Sumo? He made quite some distance while running; it was going to take him a bit of time to backtrack.

He kept his ears alert, trying to pick out the sounds of clicking among st the groaning and moaning of the dead. His chances of success weren't very high, but Hank always told him to try no matter what; doing nothing was always worse than trying something.

'Click. Click. Click.'

His eyes widened once he realized that he was hearing the faint clicking of Sumo's vest nearby. They were close! Hopefully they were okay!

He kept quiet as he made his way closer and closer to the noise, not wanting to yell and bring any attention to himself or his family once he got close enough. Who knew? The vest could be damaged, or something else could have happened in his absence.

He rounded a corner, lightly gasping at the gun in his face and hastily raised his hands up in surrender.

"Jesus Connor you scared the shit out of me!" Hank hissed, immediately lowering the gun once he realized who was before him.

A smile lit up Connor's face, the android eagerly throwing himself at Hank and pulling him in for a big hug, "Are you alright!? I was so worried about you and Sumo!"

"We're fine kid," Hank replied, giving Connor a squeeze back, "What the hell happened back there? I send you in to get some food and you end up blowing half the place up."

"Oh no, that wasn't me! I found a human inside and he was hiding from a monstrous undead. It, uh, found him and proceeded to destroy everything in its path in an attempt to reach him-the human, I mean."

"Why were you running with him?"

"He grabbed my wrist and sort of...led me away. I think he thought I was human and was worried that the creature would try to attack me. A nice gesture, but unnecessary."

Sumo 'boofed' in response.

"I'm glad you're okay as well Sumo!" Connor smiled.

"Okay, okay. Stop getting all sappy."

"If you still want the food I had selected from the store, it's sitting in a basket on one of the conveyor belts. I could go back and grab it for you and Sumo."

Hank shook his head, "There's too many undead in that direction. Once you and that human started running away they started filtering in from every direction. We can find ourselves a different place, one without an ass-load of undead loitering around."

"I don't think the undead are capable of loitering," Connor helpfully replied.

"Sure they are! Now, let's go find ourselves some food. Let's head this way," Hank said as he pointed down a relatively clear street. There looked to be a few shops and ends down there, maybe they'd luck out and find another grocery store?

* * *

Although unable to locate a store filled with as much food as the previous one, Connor was able to locate a small restaurant that was tucked away. He slipped in, with Hank and Sumo this time, and made his way to the kitchen. Thankfully there was only one undead in here, which Connor quickly took care of. Once the problem was gone he looked around.

"There's a lot of stoves in here," he pointed out, unsure if they'd locate any food in here.

"Ah ha!" Hank called out as he opened a door, Connor looking over. It seemed that Hank had stumbled upon the restaurant's pantry, "This place is loaded!"

The android entered, his eyes widening at all of the canned food before them, "This should be plenty to keep you going for a couple of weeks, Hank."

"But it's all fruit and vegetables!" Hank groaned as he moved the cans around, trying to locate something.

"What are you looking for?"

"Booze, what else!?"

Connor found himself throwing his head back and groaning, "Hank, how many times do I have to explain to you that drinking is terrible for your health?"

"As many times as it takes."

"And how many would that be?" the android decided to humor him.

"Infinity times."

"Ha ha. You're hysterical," Connor sighed as he crossed his arms in frustration, "We can't just leave this here. You're going to eat some sort of healthy food."

"Oh yeah, and what about Sumo?"

"Dogs are able to digest various types of vegetables. We can give Sumo some of these cans for nourishment. You'll both get to suffer together."

"Connor, are you giving me sass?"

"Indeed. All the sass. Now help me get these cans together. Give me your backpack."

Working together the two of them were able to fill Hank's trusty backpack to the brim with canned goods. Connor took the bag, knowing full well that Hank would probably throw out his back or something equally bad lugging around this much weight on his shoulders. 

With Hank's backpack full the duo went to make their way out of the kitchen, Connor calling softly for Sumo as they walked by him. They had found a can of spinach and had opened it and placed it on a plate for Sumo to eat while they had searched the pantry.

Sumo let out a noise as he followed after them, his vest continuing to make small clicks every few seconds. Connor smiled down at the dog before looking forward, his smile instantly vanishing.

They were currently standing in the dining room of the restaurant, easily able to see the streets through the giant wall of shattered windows. Parked in front of the very restaurant they were in was a black pick up truck that looked an awful lot like the one that Connor had thrown Markus into not an hour ago.

Right now there were four separate guns aimed at them.

"Aw shit," Hank swore, knowing better than to try to take aim at them with his own gun.

Connor went to move in front of Hank, only to hear a familiar voice call out to him.

"Hey Connor," it was Markus, "That's far enough."

He froze, his eyes on the gun that he had aimed at Hank.

"How about the two of you hop in and we'll go for a ride?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid that I've ended on another cliffhanger. Yes, I'm aware I'm a sadist. I'm currently in the middle of Chapter 3 and you'll be glad to know that there's a lot more Markus and Connor (all characters, really) interaction in the following chapter. Also, there's a shit ton of dialogue and I've found myself near the 4k mark for words. Please leave a kudos or a comment if you enjoyed this chapter and I'll get the following one up when I'm released from the cold, dead grasp of my job *cries*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I like typing dialogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you guys believe that my boss gave me...*gasp* TWO DAYS OFF OF WORK!? IN A ROW!? I about damn near shit my pants when she told me! I figured since I've got a whole 48 hours to myself I could go ahead and upload Chapter 3 for you lovely people! Just a fair warning, there is a LOT of talking in this chapter-but it's for the sake of the story!

* * *

Hank used to explain to Connor the concept of human children getting 'grounded' back before the virus took over. Apparently it was some sort of punishment they would receive whenever they did something that their parents didn't approve of, like if they were to break a vase, steal money, sneak out, lie about doing something or saving a human and getting themselves kidnapped.

Connor was guilty of the last one.

He nervously laced his fingers together and looked down at them, looking up every once in a while whenever a noise caught his attention. Lucky for them their abductors didn't seem to have any intention of causing them harm; just kidnapping.

"Why the hell do I have to watch the dog!?" North's irritated voice called out over the truck's engine as they drove through the empty streets in an attempt to make their way out of the city.

Markus looked away from Connor for a moment to his friend, a snicker escaping his lips, "What's wrong North? Don't you like dogs?"

Said female was currently sitting with her arms crossed, a very mirthless expression on her face as Sumo happily sat next to her, panting and drooling like it was nobody's business. Currently he was giving her his best 'please pet me face' he could muster, but she just wasn't understanding.

"I think it wants to eat me," she replied.

"He wants you to pet him," Connor finally spoke.

She looked over, "What?"

North and Sumo were sitting across from him and Markus, the android reaching up to pull his beanie down a little more, "His name is Sumo, and he wants you to pet him; they're his favorite thing."

"Huh. So, why is this dog ticking?"

Connor frowned, "Sumo doesn't tick. His vest does."

"Okay, why is his vest ticking-wait, why the hell does a dog need a vest?"

"Holy shit you ask a lot of questions!" Hank angrily called out from the cab of the truck, stuck with Josh and Simon. Apparently Markus considered him the lowest threat due to his 'old age'.

Had the situation not been dire, Connor was sure he would have laughed at the comment.

"Markus!" Simon's voice called out, "Can we please take the dog!? This grandpa's really grumpy."

"Did you just call me a grumpy grandpa!? I ought to beat your little punk ass! Untie me and I'll show you how much of a 'grumpy grandpa' I am!"

"Hank, please stop yelling-your stress levels are really high-"

"Not now Connor! Don't you tell them anything! Don't let them know the secrets of my genius-" Hank's rant was rudely cut off once Markus reached over and slammed the rear window shut. He sighed in relief.

"Does he do this all the time?" he inquired.

"Do what?"

"Yell?"

"Oh no! Usually he's quite content to speak with me at a normal volume. I think your kidnapping us may be stressing him out. I'm surprised he hasn't pulled out a bottle of booze and started drinking it yet."

"He doesn't have any alcohol on him; we searched both of you before we brought you on," North replied.

"I'm convinced that he's able to either reach into a dimensional portal and grab bottles, or he's creating them out of thin air. I've yet to figure out how he really does it."

"So what did Hank mean when he told you not to tell us the 'secrets of his genius'?" Markus inquired.

"You might want to take whatever he says with a grain of salt; he's probably a little drunk at the moment."

"He's walking around the undead while intoxicated?" he repeated.

"It's a daily thing that happens, you get used to it."

"Okay then," Markus replied, taking a seat next to the android, "Well I for one would love to know how you're able to walk among the undead without getting attacked. That's a useful skill to have this day and age."

Connor frowned as he looked over to the truck window and the back of Hank's head. He was currently talking to Josh and Simon; a quick lip read revealed that he was retelling of his career with the police force-oh they were going to hate the next hour and a half of their lives. Connor heard this story enough times that he was able to block out Hank's voice whenever he started telling it. He also had the added advantage of being an android and just straight up turning off his audio processor if it was safe enough to do so and allow Hank's rant to fall on his literally deaf ears.

He didn't want to tell Markus anything, especially since Hank wasn't here to let him know just what information was safe to give away. This was Connor's first interaction with other humans and he had no clue where to begin. Maybe he could try being polite with them and they'd wait until Hank could talk?

"Um, could I possibly answer this with Hank?" he tried.

Markus quirked an eyebrow, "Why?"

"I'm just not sure how to answer is all. If you ask Hank I'm sure he'll tell you everything-especially if you tell him that he's really intelligent-he loves that."

"Are you seriously going to believe this, Markus?" North replied.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you're trying to bullshit me here Connor. However, I will respect your wishes and wait until we get to Jericho before questioning the both of you."

"Really? Thank you, I didn't expect you to be so understanding."

"Hey, I'm not a bad guy," Markus replied.

"You kidnapped my family," he deadpanned.

"Oh snap Markus, he's got you there!" North snickered.

"You're part of this too," he shot back.

"Yeah, but I don't feel bad about it. Unlike you," she grinned as she laced her fingers behind her head and leaned back, that shit eating grin on her face.

Karma was apparently on Markus's side today, for as she did that Sumo took this amazing opportunity to sneeze right in her face. Watching her eyes widened and her frazzled attempt to spit out any and all snot that got into her mouth was more than enough to have Markus burst out laughing. Connor was unable to keep his expression stoic as a smile crept across his lips.

* * *

Once Jericho came into their sights, Connor found that he wasn't able to pull his gaze away from it. The ship, its size, the fact that it was currently being used as a colony was-amazing! But how did it get into the middle of the desert? Where had it come from? Hank never mentioned anything about such a place, then again maybe he didn't know?

He had a million questions running across his mind right now, but found himself keeping silent. He doubted that Markus and his crew would be willing to answer any questions of his own until he started responding to theirs. The gates opened for him, four humans working together to push them. Upon entering the small yard that housed Jericho's vehicles the android was staring to realize just how many humans were living here-far more than he'd encountered most of his life.

"Damn, you guys have yourselves a fucking ship in the middle of nowhere to live in!?" he could hear Hank exclaiming from inside the cab of the truck. Josh and Simon were probably grateful for the distraction, ready to embrace the sweet release of death in order to escape Hank's stories.

"This place is incredible!" Connor finally said, his brown eyes wide as he took everything in, "I've never seen so many humans in one place!"

Markus looked over, "Really? When's the last time you saw another human, aside from your dad here?"

"Years ago, back when the outbreak had just started. I used to see people ripping each other in an attempt to eat them. I never actually got the chance to talk to them, we were trying to escape with Sumo."

"Really? You've had him for that long?"

"He was just a puppy when all of this started," Connor explained, "He's grown considerably since then, haven't you Sumo?"

"Boof!"

Markus smiled, "I don't get to see a whole lot of dogs outside of Jericho to be honest, although we do have a few living with us. I'm guessing you like dogs?"

"Oh, I love dogs!" the android replied, smiling, "They're my favorite animal! Sumo's my favorite dog, though-he's the best! He's a St. Bernard! Did you know that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down there buddy! You're getting a little excited," Markus smiled, holding his palms up towards Connor in an attempt to calm him.

If able to blush, Connor was sure he would.

"Oops. Sorry about that. Hank says that I tend to ramble whenever I get excited. I'll try to keep it in check," he apologized.

"No problem. I'd love to hear about the St. Bernard breed later, sounds like an educational time, but I want you to meet my dad. He's the leader of Jericho."

"Your father holds that much importance?" Connor asked, looking over to his own. Hank held his own importance, that of which had the potential to undo some of the damage the virus inflicted years ago. If he would stop drinking, that is.

"Yeah, Carl's a pretty cool dude," North chirped in, though Connor could tell she was still salty about being sneezed on.

"What did he use to do before the outbreak?"

"He was an artist," Markus replied.

"An artist leading a whole colony of humans? I'd love to hear his story."

"You can ask him if you want; he loves telling it."

North rolled her eyes at the conversation before her. Damn Markus wasn't being very subtle; she was shocked that Connor didn't notice that he was blatantly checking him out. Either that or he was being police?

"Hey, if you look at him any harder you might get x-ray vision and see through his clothes," she whispered to her friend, grinning.

Markus kicked her.

* * *

"Carl! It would seem that Markus and his friends have returned!"

The elderly artist smiled as he he turned to look to the pickup truck that was slowly making its way towards them. He found himself squinting his eyes after a moment.

"What are they doing in the back?"

"Oh? It looks like North and Markus are fighting...again."

"All is well then!" Carl smiled as he used his cane to make his way closer to the vehicle.

"Sir, you really shouldn't be stressing yourself like this-"

"I'll be fine Ash; stop worrying," he replied as he approached the truck, pausing after a moment and coughing to catch Markus and North's attention.

The two of them immediately stopped fighting, Connor currently watching them with a raised eyebrow.

"I feel that this isn't how a normal kidnapping is supposed to go," he stated, Sumo barking in agreement.

"Kidnapping?" Carl repeated.

Markus smiled, "Hey dad! How are you feeling?"

"Did you kidnap this boy Markus?"

"I wouldn't use a word as strong as 'kidnapping'," he replied as he hopped out of the bed of the truck and gave his father a hug, "It's more along the lines of 'relocating'."

"Relocating against our will!" Connor exclaimed from the bed.

North laughed, "Yeah we kidnapped them. For some reason I expected you to be just a bit happier about this Carl."

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you think kidnapping random people makes me happy," the older gentleman sighed as he looked over to Connor, "Did they find you wandering out there all alone?"

"Oh no, I'm with Hank," the android replied as he pointed to the front of the truck where Simon had thrown open the passenger door and practically threw himself onto the ground.

"Land! Oh how I've missed you!" he exclaimed as he tried his best to hug the ground, but to no avail, "I don't think I can take any more police stories!"

Ah, that explained a lot.

"Where the hell are you going kid, I'm not done telling you about the summer of 2018!" Hank's voice called out from inside. Connor was truthfully impressed that Josh hadn't mimicked Simon and thrown himself from the vehicle. Was he deaf? Could he secretly be an android and able to turn off his audio processors?

Connor narrowed his eyes as he looked at Josh, not missing the outlandishly bored expression on his face. Oh there was no way he didn't hear that; Josh must've had more willpower than Simon. He was far stronger than what he was given credit for, of this Connor was sure.

"Boof!" he was pretty sure that was a bark of agreement from Sumo.

"If you're going to kidnap someone you might as well have the decency to listen to their awe-inspiring stories!" Hank complained as he exited the truck and looked around, "Nice place you've got here."

"Thank you," Carl replied, "You haven't seen the inside yet."

Hank gave a quick glace over to Connor, just to make sure he wasn't harmed. He looked as he had before, beanie pulled down, hair as it should be...truthfully he had been keeping his eye on him through the rear view mirror while boring Simon and Josh to death. Neither Markus or North had attempted to hurt him, so that gave him some reason to possibly, almost, sort of but not really trust these people.

"What is all of this you've brought with you?" Carl inquired, looking at the bag that was lifted out of the bed of the truck. Connor stood up and grabbed Hank's backpack which was currently filled to the brim with canned food that would give any normal human a significant amount of trouble to carry.

North was currently holding the other one, this one much small and far lighter than the backpack Hank had, "I'm not sure. It's filled with all sorts of vials and needles. I think these two are drug addicts."

"We're not drug addicts!" Connor countered, insulted that North would even suggest that Hank was an addict...even though was addicted to alcohol-but that was the only thing!

Hank narrowed his eyes as he held his hand out, "Mind giving me back my kit? It's got all kinds of shit in there you shouldn't be touching."

"What kind of shit?" North shot back.

"Well I know that one of those vials has some acid in it, another has the undead virus we've grown to know and love-"

Upon hearing that she was currently holding a bag with the freaking undead virus in it, North gasped and tossed the pack over to Hank, who caught it with ease.

"Don't be such a pussy; it won't hurt you unless you inject it," he explained.

"Why the actual fuck do you have that!?" North exclaimed.

"The undead virus? It's part of my work. I'm trying to create a cure to the undead problem we've got going on here."

Carl quirked an eyebrow, "A cure you say? I haven't heard talks of such a thing in years. Tell me Mr. Hank, what gives you the idea that you'd be able to engineer a cure?"

Internally Connor groaned, this was the one thing that Hank loved talking about, maybe more than his time on the force.

"Oh! Before the world went to shit I used to work at CyberLife as their Head Engineer! Used to have my own lab, tools and even an assistant! I was in charge of creating androids, but I did all sorts of things while I was there. I grabbed what I could when everything went to shit and I've been trying to make a cure on the road."

"And how has that worked out for you?" Markus asked.

"Eh, not as well as I was hoping. I've managed to clone the virus, but aside from that coming up with a cure has been damn near impossible without a proper lab or equipment. Look at Sumo's vest: I could have made it much lighter and more human friendly if I had a lab."

"Ah! I was wondering what that was on your dog! He's very cute. What exactly does that vest do?" Carl asked.

"It's a vest that gives out small pulsations that allow us to mask our location to the undead," Connor blurted out, excited to speak to someone about Hank's amazing designs.

"It makes you invisible to them?" Markus attempted to translate.

"That's the jist of it, yeah," Hank replied, shooting a look to Connor who sheepishly ducked his head down and looked away, embarrassed that he straight up told a group of strangers how Sumo's secret vest worked. He was sure that Hank would have been furious with him for doing such a thing, but found that he really didn't seem all that angry.

"That's amazing!" Carl replied.

"Don't get too excited. The vest weights a ton and there's so much that can, and has, gone wrong with it. It's nowhere near perfect, but it's been pretty useful the past month or so. Hell, the damn thing has turned off on me a couple of times when I really needed it to stay the fuck on."

"What about Connor?" Markus inquired, "How does he walk among the undead? He's not wearing a vest."

The android blinked in shock before hopping out of the truck, "I have my own device...it's really small and requires a charge every half hour or it'll stop working. I carry that with me whenever I need to separate from Hank and Sumo," he lied.

"Hank, what kind of lab would you need to continue your research?" Carl asked.

"The lab itself really wouldn't matter; I just need a place where I can have a permanent set up so that I can work for long periods of time without having to pack everything up and move every few days. That's been my biggest obstacle."

"Well Jericho, as you can tell, is a huge ship that's somehow found her way to the middle of nowhere. She does have quite a bit of damage to her, but she has plenty of space and spare rooms. I'm sure you could use one as a permanent space for a lab if you really wanted to."

"Whoa, wait up a second. You have your kid kidnap us-"

"Never asked Markus to do such a thing-"

"And now you're offering us a place to stay? Why? What's the catch?"

"Jericho could always use more people, and we could really use a doctor."

"Well I'm no doctor, but I do know a thing or two about the human body. Connor here is actually pretty amazing with that sort of thing-he'd probably do a better job than I could."

Connor found himself panicking slightly as five sets of eyes landed on him. After a moment Hank looked over as well.

"Ain't that right Connor?"

"Oh? Um, yes. I've been taught much about medical procedures and what to do in case of an emergency. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a doctor, but I'm a pretty respectable Plan B if the need were to arise. Do you have any medical professionals here?"

"Our original doctor chose to stay in Rutledge when we made the move out here. She used to keep in touch with us over the radio, but they've been silent for longer than usual. I won't lie, it has most of us worried."

"Why not send someone then? You look like you have the manpower," Hank said.

"You sound a lot like Markus, he repeats the same thing in my ear each day," Carl replied, shooting a small glare over to his son, "The reason I won't send anyone is because Rutledge isn't the easiest place to reach. It's nestled in the small city of Ellis. Normally they keep a path secured when we need to reach their settlement, but without anyone there to maintain it I'm worried that it's become full of the undead. I won't send anyone over unless we know for sure that there's some way to reach them. Getting too close to the city has proven deadly and I've decided to halt any and all attempts to find them; I just can't put my people at risk for another settlement, even if it's one that we used to live at."

Connor frowned as he listened to Carl speak. It was clear that Hank and himself really weren't the focus of his tale: all of his energy was going into explaining to Markus why he was doing these things. Markus's expression was one of sadness and anger, though it was difficult for Connor to pinpoint where those emotions were aimed.

"Quite the predicament you've got going on here," Hank replied.

"Would your vest be able to help us get there?" Markus asked.

"Markus!"

"No dad, I want to know! Hank has something that can keep the undead from seeing him-we can use this to get to Rutledge!" he tried.

"Hold up kid, I can tell you've got your heart in the right place-but I wouldn't use this vest in it's current state. It's too heavy for a human to carry comfortably so we've got Sumo using it right now, and it doesn't exactly have the best track record."

"Maybe if Hank and I are able to work on it some more, we could get it to a more reliable state?" Connor offered.

Hank and Markus blinked, "Really?"

"Of course! Traveling as we were has taken a toll on Hank's old age-"

"Connor you ass-"

"And we've been looking for a place to rest anyways. This place is perfect! We could work on the vest in peace and, who knows-we might be able to get a smaller, lighter and more efficient version produced? Our biggest obstacle has been lack of resources and a safe place to work on the vest. This place would work great, don't you think so Hank?"

The grumpy man let out a 'huff'. As much as he hated to admit it, Connor was right...again. But what was really throwing him off was just how quickly his android had offered to help Markus in his quest to reach Rutledge. He knew Connor was naive, but never thought that he'd just up and offer to assist someone like this.

He narrowed his eyes at Connor, who was currently looking at Markus who was smiling at him with an expression that gave away that he thought Connor was the greatest person in the world.

He'd have to keep an eye on this Markus fellow.

"Yeah I guess you're right Connor," he finally agreed, "But don't expect anything immediately," he explained to Markus, "This could take us a while."

"I don't know how to begin thanking you!"

"Well you can start by showing me where you keep your booze-"

"Please don't reveal that information to him," Connor sighed.

Carl chucked, "We won't. Now how about the three of you get a look at the room I was talking about?"

Nothing sounded better.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3! Chapter 4 is going to have more action and maybe it's gonna have some Markus/Connor bonding time in there somewhere *nudge* *nudge. It totally will. If you're enjoying the story pound that 'kudos' button and leave me a comment if it pleases you! Until next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank loves coffee, Connor makes new friends and Markus overhears a message from one once thought dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well happy 4th of July to you my lovely audience! I've been so busy with work but I only had to work half a day today and caught up on everything else I needed to do so I decided to post Chapter 4! Enjoy!

* * *

"Connor, hand me that socket wrench."

The android blinked in confusion as he reached to his right, grabbed said wrench Hank was currently pointing to and handed it over to him, "I don't think this tool will be compatible with any of the-"

He was cut off as the older male snatched the wrench from his outstretched hand and slammed it into the prototype vest they had been working on. Connor's eyes widened as he watched his father figure proceed to completely and utterly destroy what little progress they had made. His beanie was off, his LED flashing from blue to immediate red. He was sure if Sumo had a LED it'd be doing the same.

Pieces of the prototype vest flew everywhere, Connor simply moving his eyes from side to side as they tumbled past him. After thirty seconds Hank stopped in mid-swing, breathing heavily and staring at the destroyed pile that was once the start of a vest.

Well Hank wasn't drunk, amazingly, which left Connor in a state of confusion for a second. Drunk Hank would do this without a second though, however sober Hank tended to think things through. Sometimes.

"You're not drunk," it was a statement.

"Fuck no I'm not drunk; I should be!"

"Maybe we should take a break?" Connor suggested, "We've been working on this non-stop for the past two days and haven't been able to get the initial start-up protocol to kick in. Would you like to explore Jericho?"

"No I don't want to fucking 'explore Jericho', Connor! What kind of suggestion is that?"

"Oh? Well, I was exploring yesterday morning while you were sleeping and found that they have this huge cafeteria that everyone eats in."

"Your point?"

"I may have spotted some coffee while in there."

_This_ caught Hank's attention, the human narrowing his eyes at Connor, "You're kidding."

"No, they really had coffee! Smelled good, too."

"Why the hell didn't you bring me any you asshole!?"

"You never instructed me to and you've spent all of your time in our room, how was I supposed to know?" was the android's _extremely_ cheeky remark.

"You little shit-"

"I think we should take a break and check out that cafeteria! A walk would do you some good."

"Connor, we said we would make this vest."

"We are, but you're next to useless when you're tired. No offense Hank; you're cranky as heck."

Hank looked like he had some choice words for the android, but quickly found himself sighing in defeat. Connor was, yet again, right. He was in a irritable mood and had just destroyed what little progress they had made. Thankfully Connor was taking it in stride as he slipped his beanie on and opened the door that lead into their room, Sumo perking up.

"Want to go for a walk Sumo?" he inquired of the dog, Sumo bounding over and skidding to a stop next to Connor before following him out, "You coming Hank?"

Hank sighed. For someone who was only a few years old, Connor sure was personable when he wanted to be. He begrudgingly made his way out after the duo; interacting with other humans wasn't all that high on his 'to-do' list, but if Connor was telling the truth then that meant there was precious coffee somewhere aboard this ship.

'Keep your eye on the prize', he thought to himself as he followed the android and dog.

* * *

Markus took a bite of his omelet, looking up just in time to see Connor, Hank and Sumo make their way into the cafeteria of Jericho. He chewed his food a couple of times before swallowing.

"I think you should stare at him harder; this isn't awkward enough," North's voice called out from his left, Markus turning his gaze to her and frowning.

"I think you should finish your coffee."

North chuckled before taking a sip of her warm beverage, "Why don't you go talk to him?"

"Connor?"

"No, she's talking about Josh," Simon deadpanned as he stabbed into the salad he had in front of him, "Of course she's referring to Connor; you look at him every time he enters a damn room."

Markus frowned, "I don't want to bother him while he's working-"

"Does it look like he's working now?" Josh pointed out, "This is the perfect opportunity to talk to him. Just say 'hi' or something."

"I don't know..." he mumbled.

"Aw look at Markus making excuses. HEY CONNOR! OVER HERE!" North exclaimed, waving her arms like a lunatic in an attempt to catch Connor's attention. Markus began choking on his breakfast.

It worked.

Said male walked over, Hank thoroughly distracted by the buffet-like line of food and the huge BUNN coffee maker that he was pretty sure had been crafted from his dreams.

"Hello!" Connor greeted, "Thank you again for letting us stay here. How are you doing today Markus?"

North snickered as she watched her friend attempt to clear his windpipe in an attempt to compose himself. Connor curiously leaned in a bit closer, worried that something was wrong.

Markus looked over, "Don't thank me Connor, these sort of decisions fall on Carl," he replied as smoothly as possible, "How goes progress on your vest?"

"I'm afraid that Hank got a bit...testy with the prototype we started and decided to...start from scratch."

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"He smashed it."

The chorus of 'ohs' was their response.

"So you're staring all over?" Markus asked.

"Yes, this sort of thing happens all the time. It's a lot less stressful now that we're not in the open and don't have to worry about any undead finding us. We didn't make a whole lot of progress anyways; we couldn't get the start-up protocol to function. I'm afraid Sumo's vest is able to hold more components therefore making it easier to get everything to function properly," he explained.

"I think that it's pretty cool you guys can make vests that hide yourselves from the undead," Simon replied, "You must be really smart Connor."

Connor found himself lightly smiling at the compliment, "I know quite a bit about the mechanical aspect of things, though Hank knows more than me...he's the one who came up with the idea for Sumo's vest in the first place."

"Where did you make that vest at?" Markus asked.

"We were actually holed up in an abandoned apartment complex. We had a very urgent time crunch when working on that," Connor explained, conveniently leaving out the part where he had to venture into the undead ridden floors of the apartment to grab the components Hank needed.

"It was crafted on the fly?" Simon asked.

"You could say that, yes," Connor replied, reaching down to pet Sumo, who had decided to follow him over to the table and was currently begging North for some of her food, "Stop begging," he scolded the dog.

"Aw he can beg, he's cute!" Josh smiled.

"No he's not," North replied.

"I'm pretty sure that dog is one of the cutest things to come from onto this ship from the outside world," Markus stated.

North grinned as she looked over, "Only one of the cutest? Who's the other?" she teased, Markus kicking her underneath the table.

"Why don't you sit with us?" Simon offered, "Grab some breakfast! You didn't grab any yesterday when we were here."

The android frowned for a moment, his LED a constant yellow masked by his beanie as he attempt to figure out a logical reason as to why he didn't eat breakfast with them yesterday.

"I apologize, I didn't get hungry until later."

"Oh, I've got a question!" North added, "How did you manage to throw Markus's fat ass into our truck?"

"Hey!"

"Markus isn't fat," Connor explained, as if that would suffice.

"Okay. How did you manage to throw Markus's completely healthy ass into our truck a few days ago?" she rephrased.

"It was pretty impressive, if not a bit painful," Markus replied with a smile, "Beats being eaten by the undead."

Connor found himself frozen for two reasons. One: everyone was questioning his 'bad-ass abilities', as Hank would say and Two: Markus was smiling at him. He was unable to determine which one was causing him the most difficulty.

"I've been alone with Hank for so long that I've needed to become stronger to take care of him. He's not young anymore and I'm truthfully surprised that he hasn't broken a hip yet," one hundred percent a joke, Connor wished no harm upon his father figure.

"You throw Hank around a lot?" North inquired.

"Not Hank, but I've had to throw several things at the undead to keep them away from us every now and again," this was true, "May I ask you a question Markus?"

"Shoot."

"What did you to to provoke that huge undead? And where did you locate it? I've never seen one as large as that and able to give chase for so long without any of its limbs breaking."

"You've seen undead break their limbs?" Josh blinked.

"Yes. The undead are constantly decaying: this is the main reason why so many of them simply shamble up to humans in an attempt to bite them. If they attempt to move too quickly their bodies break down and they suffer damage; I've seen it happen before."

"Really? In any case, I accidentally stumbled upon it in an auto repair shop garage. I was trying to find some parts for our vehicles and didn't even see him until I was about damn near on top of him; didn't make a sound or move until I was close enough," Markus explained.

"It didn't make any noise? None at all?" Connor inquired, finding it extremely odd. Usually the undead were a vocal bunch, announcing their presence with moaning and groaning. It was strange to hear of one that simply stood still and didn't make a peep.

"Nope. I did find it unusual, you know, after it was done chasing us."

"Since you seem to know so much about the undead why do you think they only crave human flesh? I've seen them ignore cats and dogs, easy prey, for a human," North chimed in.

Connor thought for a moment as he took a seat next to Markus, who took immediate notice. After a moment he found his answer, "Hank and I have come to the conclusion that the undead don't really get hungry per say, but that they're actively trying to spread the virus. This would explain why they don't attack animals; it may be that the virus isn't compatible with them. I've seen a couple of abnormal types, but nothing like what was chasing after Markus. That one seemed to be in excellent condition with very little muscle deterioration and able to run long distances without sustaining any damage because of it. I didn't stick around to see how much time it spent chasing after your truck, would any of you know?"

"He tried pretty hard but couldn't keep up with us," Josh replied, "I lost sight of him after a made a right turn."

"Strange that it would give up so quickly," Connor thought out loud, "Is it possible that it had some form of coherent thought and was able to figure out that it wouldn't be able to catch up to you?" If that was the case, was there a chance that somewhere out in the world there were undead that could see through Sumo's vest? Would that abnormal one noticed if Hank had gotten too close?

It was a theory that Connor hoped would never be tested. He reached to his left and gave Sumo a reassuring pat on the head, though it was more for himself than anything.

* * *

It didn't take long for Hank to walk up to their group, a cup of steaming hot coffee in one hand and a plate of egg in the other. Connor quirked an eyebrow as he ran a quick scan over the cup.

"Is there alcohol in there?"

"Nah, don't know what you're talking about Connor," Hank smirked as he walked by.

The android stood up, ready to chase after his dad and scold him for drinking, again.

"Don't bother Connor, I'm in such a fucking great mood!" Hank practically sang, Conner faulting for a second, "Come here Sumo!"

The huge dog 'boofed' as he quickly made his way over to Hank, Connor narrowing his eyes at Sumo and feeling a bit betrayed that he would rather spend his time with Hank instead of himself.

"Did you need my assistance with the vest?" the android inquired.

"Nah, I'm still taking a break from that," Hank replied as he took a sip of his coffee, "Try me in about an hour."

Connor nodded as he watched the duo walk out of the cafeteria, leaving him alone with Markus and his merry group of friends. It wasn't unpleasant conversing with them, but who knew what Hank would drink without him around to monitor?

"Your dad's trying to make a cure, right?" North's voiced pulled him out of his thoughts.

"A cure?"

"For the undead virus? He has a vile of the virus inside that case," she explained.

"Ah. Yes, we've been trying for quite some time to craft some sort of cure or vaccine for the virus, however all we've managed to come up with is something that instantly kills an undead."

"You have something that can insta-kill the undead!?" Simon exclaimed, Connor's eyes widening.

"It's not as efficient as you may think," he quickly confirmed, "You have to inject the serum into the neck in order for it to have any effect. It's very dangerous and not worth the risk in my opinion when there are so many other ways to take the undead out that don't involve letting them in your personal space."

"What does it look like? The insta-death?" Simon inquired.

"You're very adamant on something that I just explained to you is needlessly risky."

"I know, but what does it look like?"

Connor sighed, "It is a bit cooler than what I had expected, but still not worth the risk. The serum causes the undead to sort of start boiling from the inside out and then they sort of...explode in a cacophony of blood and guts. It's not stealthy in the least."

"But it's cool?"

"Yes Simon, it's very cool."

"Awesome!"

"Do you think you've come close to some sort of cure?" Markus inquired.

"Not a cure, no. I know it causes Hank a great deal of distress that he's unable to come up with anything, but I've explained to him that this virus inhabits a dead brain. Once someone is bitten and dies it kicks in and activates only the core functions of the human mind, everything else remains shut off. That amount of decomposing and inactivity makes the chances of reactivating the brain about two percent."

"What about a vaccine then?" Josh asked.

"We haven't gotten to that point yet, though I know there is a much higher probability of successfully creating something that can stop the human brain from reactivating once death hits."

"Anything to stop the bite from killing someone?" Markus asked.

"From what we've tried so far, no. We do have a experimental serum prepared, however we would need someone who had just been bitten to properly test it on. For obvious reasons, such specimens are far and few between. So we do have a vaccine of sorts on us, it's just never been tested and I would not recommend relying on it. Do the people of Jericho bet bit often?"

"Try about damn near never. Carl runs a tight ship and makes sure that we don't take any unnecessary risks," Markus replied.

"Like with that other colony you want to help? Rutledge?"

North quickly looked to Markus.

"Yeah, like Rutledge. Can't send anyone because it's too dangerous. I know Carl's right, but it just sucks so much being unable to do anything about it," he explained.

"I empathize with you. Once Hank is in a more favorable mood I'll inquire about working on the prototype vest some more. Hopefully we'll be able to overcome the initial protocol issue we keep running into."

The smile that graced Markus's lips gave Connor the impression that he had said the correct words to the human.

"Thanks Connor, I really appreciate it."

* * *

Connor had spent the next thirty minutes hanging out with 'Markus and Co.', which was apparently the name given to them by the people of Jericho due to the fact that they were usually seen together. He liked the name, wondering if he could come up with one for himself, Hank and Sumo.

It was nice, talking to new people. After their initial discussion of the undead Simon had inquired if he had ever played 'volleyball'. A quick search query pulled up that it was a sport that was enjoyed before the virus broke out. He had replied that, no, he hadn't gotten the chance to play volleyball. Apparently there was a makeshift court of sorts on the deck of Jericho and he'd been invited to play a game with Markus and Co.

He headed back to the room he shared with Hank, wanting to let him know where he was going to be. He poked his head in, frowning upon noticing that Hank was fast asleep on the lower part of their bunk bed. He probably knocked himself out drinking that coffee that he knew had some form of alcohol in it. Normally he'd be a bit peeved, but Jericho was pretty safe so it didn't bother him as much as it usually did.

He'd have some words with Hank later.

Until then he walked over to the table where the prototype vest (now smashed) currently lay and found the small pack of Post-It notes that they had been using, as well as a pen. He grabbed the pad of notes and pen before scribbling some words onto the small square. Once satisfied with his note he pulled the top page off and stuck it to Hank's forehead before giving a small wave to Sumo.

"Keep an eye on him," he whispered as he exited the room, Sumo 'boofing' in response softly before resuming his mini-nap.

_'Went to play volleyball with Markus on deck. Don't get drunk while I'm gone. Connor.'_

* * *

Locating the deck was easy enough, and once Connor walked up the stairs leading there and got his first real glimpse of the desert he paused.

The Sun was high in the sky, an empty wasteland of sand dunes in every direction. He looked around, noting the complete lack of...anything. Another quick scan of the area revealed that in the distance he could barely make out what looked to be the faint outline of a city. Was that Ellis, the city that housed Rutledge?

"Ow! North, you're so mean!" Simon's voice called out.

The android blinked as he walked along the huge deck, passing a few citizens of Jericho as he made his way towards the sound of Simon's voice.

"She didn't hit you that hard; you're fine," that was Markus.

Connor poked his head around a corner, spotting the group of friends. From his previous search records of volleyball, it looked as if the group had worked together to come up with a make-shift court of sorts. Simon was currently sitting on the floor, pouting.

"I'm gonna die, Josh!" he exclaimed in what Connor could only assume to be a fake dramatic voice.

"You're fine Simon, stop bitching!" Apparently Josh didn't care.

"Next time I'll aim this ball at your face," North cackled as she lightly tossed a volleyball up and down. She looked up just in time to see Connor walk over, "Hey Connor! Glad you could make it!"

"Is Hank cool with you hanging out? I know the two of you are usually side-by-side," Markus replied, though he was genuinely happy to see Connor.

"I left Hank a Post-It note on his forehead so that he'd be aware of my location when he wakes up from his intoxicated state," the android explained.

"What if he's too hung over to read it?" Josh asked.

"I'm using the fact that I left him a note in the first place as my argument. If Hank didn't want me out, then he shouldn't have put himself in a state were he couldn't respond to me."

"That sounds like something Markus would say!" North replied, "Look at you two, just a couple of rebels."

Connor frowned, he wasn't trying to overthrow a government. North probably didn't mean it as literally as he was taking it, which tended to happen a lot with Hank, so he dialed the definition down a bit.

"Markus is a rebel?" he asked.

"Hell yeah he is!"

"North, shut up!" said male hissed.

"Ignore him. Markus is always going against Carl; remember when you met us?"

"Yes."

Markus sighed, "Since North is going to tell it as it is, I might as well. We were actually out looking for supplies in a section of the city Carl specifically told us not to go to. I knew not much had been looted from there so we decided to take the chance and explore."

"Doesn't that make you all rebels?" Connor inquired, crossing his arms.

"In a sense, but it was my idea in the first place," Markus admitted.

"Oh, so you're just the rebel leader?"

"You could put it that way."

"Hey! Let's stop talking about how totally bad ass Markus is and play some volleyball! Connor, do you want to take Simon's place since I lightly tapped him with the ball?" North asked.

"Lightly tapped my ass! You attempted to murder me, woman!" Simon exclaimed, Connor blinking.

"Attempted murder, ball to your arm-they might as well be the same thing," North replied.

The android was very sure they wern't the same thing, but it appeared as if the two of them were joking around. Either that or Simon was just a straight up pussy.

"I've never played volleyball, but I'd like to try," he stated, cutting of their bickering, "I do have a loose understanding of how the rules work. What do you normally play to score wise?"

"Depends. Sometimes we go for hours, sometimes we just shoot for like three or something," Markus explained, "How does five sound? Wanna be on my team?"

"That sounds nice. I accept your invitation," Connor was beaming.

"I-pffft-that's great!" Markus managed.

"Smooth!" North somehow got out between her snickering. Josh wasn't helping any, he was chuckling alongside the evil woman. Simon was still on the floor behind Connor, however he was now making a heart shape with his fingers and fucking winking at Markus.

Buy some amazing stroke of luck, Connor missed all of this and continued to smile at Markus.

"North! Give me the damn ball!" Markus finally exclaimed, the woman laughing as she tossed it over and crossed to the other side of the net to be with Josh. Still peeved, Markus made his way to the back corner of his side, Connor quickly following and standing closer to the net in the front.

He had the entire rulebook for volleyball in his head, but it was a pretty safe assumption that Markus and Co. didn't follow the rules to a tee so he'd just have to improvise.

Markus tossed the ball up and pulled his hand back, intent on hitting North right in her stupid face as revenge. His palm struck the ball with a satisfying 'crack' and it flew across the net. Alas North had zero plans involving getting hit in the face; fluidly moving out of the way, lacing her fingers together and hitting the ball back. Oh Markus was going to get it good!

He would have if not for a certain Connor interfering. Just as the ball was about to cross over the net Connor jumped up, his right arm pulled back before spiking the ball, nobody close enough to even try to stop it. Said ball slammed into the floor before bouncing up and damn near hitting Simon in the face, the human screaming and falling onto his side to avoid any damage.

Josh and North stood still, their mouths wide open as they stared at Simon for a second before reverting their gaze to Connor, who was currently standing still and wringing his hands together in front of his chest, an apologetic expression on his face. Behind him Markus was standing in complete awe.

"I-I'm sorry!" he blurted, "I forget how strong I am sometimes. I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

Even though he just ran a scan on everyone, he wanted to double check in case he missed anything.

"Oh DAMN that was awesome!" North exclaimed, "Oh shit Connor you're my partner next game!"

"I...am?" the android asked, confusion lacing his features. Why weren't they angry with him? He could have seriously hurt someone!

"North that's cheating!" Markus argued.

"He's your partner now so aren't you cheating?"

"Nope! I entered this relationship not knowing how awesome Connor is at volleyball. Therefore, if we win this set I've won it fair and square!"

"But you're aware of my abilities now-" Connor tried.

"Shhh! Don't agree with her!" Markus hissed.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" he apologized.

"Guys, did you see that!? I was almost hit in the face with that ball!" Simon exclaimed, a bit miffed that nobody had thought to take his feelings into consideration.

"But did you die?" North asked.

"I really am sorry!" Connor called out.

"And Connor said he's sorry so we're all good!" she smiled.

Markus laughed, "That was amazing Connor! I thought you said that you've never played?"

"Er, I haven't. I'll keep my strength in check next time," he promised.

"Hey man, do what you gotta do!" Markus replied, putting a hand on the android's shoulder, "Wanna play again?"

Connor froze, his eyes landing on the offending appendage. His sensors were going crazy and for some reason he couldn't find himself to look away from it.

Well this was certainly new. He'd have to ask Hank about it.

Markus waved his free hand in front of his face, bringing him out of his stupor, "You okay?"

"I am fine," Connor assured, "I would like to play another game. This seems entertaining."

"Aw hell yeah! Connor, you've GOT to show me how you did that!" North exclaimed.

Markus caught the ball, courtesy of Josh, before holding it out to the android and smiling, "Your serve."

* * *

As predicted, Markus and Connor completely destroyed North and Josh in five rounds of volleyball. Once that was done, North had excitedly begged Connor to show her how to pull off his 'sick moves'. The android was more than happy to teach her, North managing to spike the ball pretty hard several times and even manged to hit poor Simon in the face by accident.

Well, _she_ said it had been an accident, though Markus wouldn't put it past her.

Said rebel leader was currently wandering the halls of Jericho, keeping an eye on the setting Sun. Soon it would be dark outside and Carl wouldn't let anyone leave the ship. Another day without hearing a word from Rutledge, another day wondering if Kara, Alice and Luther were all right.

He made his way past the communications room, pausing for a moment to stick his head in. Jason, the guy usually in charge, was currently out eating dinner and thus had left the room alone. It wasn't something to sweat over; the only form of communication Jericho had ever received had been from Rutledge, and that had been weeks ago. Markus honestly wasn't expecting any sort of activity-

The sound of static harshly brought him out of his train of thought, the male blinking in shock before entering the room fully and looking at the massive machine before him. Nobody was saying anything, it was just static. He stared at it, trying to will something else to happen. It was possible that the radio was just malfunctioning.

The static stopped.

Markus sighed, disappointment flooding his body. He should've known that nothing would happen, there was no way he was going to hear anything from Rutledge after all this time-

_"Hello? Hello is anyone out there?"_ a female's voice crackled over the speaker.

"Holy shit," he swore as he ran over to the radio and grabbed the microphone, "This is Markus of Jericho. If you can hear me, please respond."

_"Everybody is dead...I'm dead. Who's out there?"_ that voice sounded so familiar.

He decided to shoot in the dark, "Kara? Kara is that you?"

_"Nobody stood a chance...my husband, my daughter. They're all dead. If you can hear me, stay away from Rutledge. There is nothing but pain and death for those who wander too close. I repeat: stay away from Rutledge. There is nothing there."_

"Kara!" he tried again, panic gripping his chest.

_"Hello? Hello is anyone out there? Everybody is dead...I'm dead. Who's out there? Nobody stood a chance...my husband, my daughter. They're all dead. If you can hear me, stay away from Rutledge. There is nothing but pain and death for those who wander too close. I repeat: stay away from Rutledge. There is nothing there. Hello? Hello is anyone out there-"_

It was on an endless loop.

Markus stood there, his eyes wide as the recording continued to play. Jason would be back soon, he'd hear this and call Carl. Once hearing this Carl would give up any and all thoughts of going after Rutledge. He seek him out immediately and make sure he didn't leave.

Not if he got the fuck out of dodge before he found out.

He turned heel and sprinted out of the communication room making a mad dash for his own. He didn't have much time to pack and get the the hell out. That was Kara's voice on that recording, he was sure of it. He couldn't ask the others to come with him on such a dangerous mission: the way that audio went it sounded like Kara was on the verge of death when she made the recording, and who knew when that had been?

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter: MARKUS AND CONNOR GO ON A FREAKING ADVENTURE. ALONE. TOGETHER.  
> Will there be some form of development in this relationship for crying out loud!? That's what I'm aiming for!  
> Will there be action!? HELL YEAH!!! (Zombie action, that is. I love me some action sequences!!!!!)  
> Will I get a day off work!? *cries*  
> Tune in next time! And remember to study hard and stay in school!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Markus go on an adventure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not saying what you guys have been waiting for happens in this chapter...but it sort of does. Also, this chapter is STUPID long. (Long note at the end for those of you who are feeling up to reading it!)

Connor frowned as he stood in the entrance to the room he shared with Hank. Said male was passed out at the table, a couple of vials in front of him complete with an empty bottle of booze. The android picked it up and did a quick scan, half tempted to wake Hank up and scold him for drinking even though he had left a note on his forehead politely requesting that he not do such a thing.

"Sumo you were supposed to stop him," he sighed, knowing full well that there was diddly squat that the dog could have done. That and Sumo was currently fast asleep next to Hank.

Deciding against waking Hank up Connor made his way around the sleeping duo until he reached the small window that gave their room some light and peered out. The Sun was close to setting and the android found himself thinking about Hank; how he was angry at the fact that his words never seemed to actually reach him, that he was always drinking-no matter how many times the android had pleaded and begged for him to stop his self-destructive behavior.

Under his beanie his LED was glowing an ugly red. Sure Jericho was a safe haven, but what if Hank decided that he didn't want to stay any longer? What if he chose to, yet again, pack up and leave somewhere safe for the outside world where he could drink and mingle with the undead.

Great. His stress levels were rising. He needed to think of something nicer, something that had brought him...happiness.

_"That was amazing Connor! I thought you said that you've never played?"_

Ah yes, the volleyball game he participated in earlier. It had been enjoyable to 'hang out' with Markus and his friends. Before he had headed back to Hank they had invited him to play again some other time. He accepted and had been eager to tell Hank about how he made some new friends.

It would seem that he'd have to wait on that.

Until Hank woke up he'd just have to entertain himself by looking out at the setting Sun. While admiring the desert and its deadly beauty, he noticed a shape working its way towards the horizon. He blinked, narrowing his eyes as his perfect vision slightly zoomed in and focused.

It was a person, walking away from Jericho and pushing what looked to be a motorcycle...their outline was very familiar. His eyes widened upon realizing who he was looking at.

"Markus," he whispered, what the hell was he doing heading out like this!? The Sun was going to set soon and he'd be left alone in the dark!

Peeved that humans were so excellent at putting themselves into terribly dangerous situations the android made his way out of the room and down the hall. He raced through and made his way up the stairs and onto the deck, somehow managing to not run into a single person. Once topside he continued his trek along the edge, looking over to Markus's small figure making its way into the distance. The human was too far away for him to do anything; he'd have to get closer.

Hank _may_ yell at him for this...

While running he grabbed the railing with his right hand and vaulted over the edge. His fall was a lot faster than anticipated and he found himself landing and pulling off a parkour roll before continuing his sprint. Oh Hank would have kicked his ass if he saw that.

Now that he was on ground level with Markus, the human didn't look nearly as far away. He could catch up with Markus and convince him to turn the hell around before he got himself killed.

Taking his track record with Hank into consideration, Connor's chances were at roughly 36%. He'd have to lay on the charm extra hard to get passing results.

* * *

Hearing Kara's voice and knowing that there was a possibility that she could be alive was all the motivation Markus needed. He wasn't going to wait around in Jericho for his friend to die; at one point she had been able to send a message requesting that everyone stay away from Rutledge. That could only mean that she sent it after whatever happened at Rutledge...happened.

And so Markus found himself pushing his faithful motorcycle towards the horizon. He'd get far away enough from Jericho and turn on the engine, that way nobody would figure out where he went until it was too late.

"I'll find you Kara," he swore out loud.

"Who's Kara?"

If one was to ask Markus about the noise he had made, the darker skinned male would have replied that he gasped in shock. Connor would state that it had been the one of the more girly screams he's heard.

"Holy shit Connor what are you doing out here!?" Markus exclaimed, putting a hand over his racing heart, "You about damn near gave me a heart attack; I didn't even hear you!"

"You didn't? Excellent! I was going for a stealthy approach!" the android smiled, "As for your query: I'm out here to inquire about what you are doing. So Markus, what are you doing?"

"It doesn't matter what I'm doing Connor, you need to go back to Jericho."

Connor frowned, lacing his fingers behind his back, "What if I went back and told everyone what you're doing?"

"Oh really? What do you think I'm doing then Connor?"

"You're attempting to reach Rutledge. It's the only thing in this direction that you would risk your life for. I'm shocked that you don't have your friends with you; your chances of survival would be much higher with them accompanying you."

"Okay so maybe you do know what I'm doing," Markus grumbled, was he that transparent?

"Markus, what's driven you to carry out this _very_ questionable plan?"

The human rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't use the word 'questionable'," he attempted.

"Nah, you're right. Hank would say that this is a 'pretty fucking stupid' plan," the android grinned, "But I digress; what's made you decide to leave? You've known about Rutledge being silent for weeks and you decide now to head out?"

Markus sighed, "There was a message."

"A message?" the android parroted.

"Yeah, in the communication room. I heard a recorded message from Kara."

"Really? What did it say?"

"She was going on about how everyone was dead, how she was dead. She must've made it after...whatever the hell happened at Rutledge went down."

"She made a prerecorded message stating that she was...dead?" Connor inquired, "Do you think she could have been bitten and was trying to warn everyone before she turned?"

"I don't know Connor, that's why I've got to find her! I've got to see with my own eyes so that I can put this behind me! If I had stayed behind who knows, maybe I could have stopped whatever happened there!"

"Doubtful. If it was enough to silence the whole settlement then it must've had quite the impact. I doubt your presence could have changed much...no offense," the android explained.

"Doesn't matter. I still need to go. You should head back to Jericho where it's safe. You can tell the others if you want. I'll be long gone by the time you get back."

"Oh no, I'm not going to let you go alone. Your chances of survival are very slim. We're talking single digits here Markus."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," the darker male sighed, "What? You want to come with me?"

Connor paused for a moment. Originally his goal had been to convince Markus to come back to him to Jericho. This plan he currently had obviously lacked any real thought process; he had heard Kara's voice and was acting purely on emotion. Hank had always told him that acting solely on emotion was a pretty good way to get oneself killed and apparently Markus was under the impression that heading into undead territory alone, in the middle of the night, was the only way to go. Hank had also explained to him that humans who were driven by their emotions were extremely difficult to convince otherwise; apparently he had experience in this sort of thing.

"How about you come with me?" Markus's voice sliced through his thoughts.

"You want me to come with you?" he repeated, caught off guard by the offer.

"Sure-hey what about that little device you were talking about that stops the undead from seeing you? You got it on your person?"

"Oh no, it's still in my room!" Connor explained, "Therefore I will not make a very good deterrent for the undead. We'd have to avoid them. No, wait. My goal was to convince you that going to Rutledge is a terrible idea-"

Markus chuckled as he paused in his steps and swung one leg over his bike before sitting down, "Get on."

Connor paused mid-sentence, "-I...what?"

"Get on."

The android frowned as he looked at the motorcycle and then Markus. He'd never ridden one before, it was difficult locating any vehicles that actually worked-and when they did find some it usually ended up being a sedan of sorts. It offered no protection from the undead and was probably going to be very loud. However it did look as if it would be extremely quick and, possibly, slightly, _maybe_ a little bit of fun.

"Or head back to Jericho, it's your choice," Markus offered as he reached down and turned the ignition, the engine roaring to life, "I've gotta get going."

Connor frowned, knowing that there was no way he was going to convince Markus to abandon this plan. He _could_ attempt to stop him, but he seemed so set that he didn't want to risk ruining this new friendship they had just because he wouldn't listen.

Markus glanced at him for a moment before turning towards Rutledge and throwing the motorcycle into first gear-

"Wait!" the android exclaimed, running over, "This is a terrible idea but someone has to keep your ass out of trouble."

"Wanna keep an eye on my ass then? Excellent. Hop on," Markus grinned, ecstatic that Connor decided to tag along for the ride.

Nervously looking the bike over Connor carefully made his way to Markus and sat behind him, wringing his hands together out of habit.

"How am I supposed to not fall off?" he inquired.

"Hold on to something," Markus replied.

"Like what?"

"Like me."

With that the human took off, Connor gasping before slipping his arms around Markus's waist and burying his face into his shoulder. For about a minute the android said and did nothing, opting to hold on for dear life and feel the wind whip around them. Eventually he pulled his face up and peeked out to the setting sun, his eyes widening at how fast they were going.

"How are you doing back there?" Markus asked.

"I'm okay!" the android replied over the engine, "I've just never been on a motorcycle before!"

"Oh it's your first time? How is it?"

"This is sort of scary!" Connor admitted.

Markus laughed, "Scary? I'm sorry you think that way! Maybe you'll change your mind in a few minutes!"

"I honestly doubt that! This doesn't seem to be a very safe mode of transportation!" he explained.

"I mean back when there were humans and traffic everywhere riding a motorcycle was pretty dangerous," Markus replied, "Ever since the virus hit and pretty much killed everyone there's a whole lot less cars on the road to hit you! Have you ever heard yourself talk Connor? You've got an interesting way of wording things!"

"I never noticed," the android replied before attempting to switch the subject, "How do you plan on getting to Rutledge? Isn't it in a small city? No offense but your bike is _really_ loud! The undead are going to hear you from a mile away!"

"We'll cross that bridge once we get to it! Besides, Rutledge is actually on the edge of Ellis so we don't have to travel that far inside in order to reach it!"

"This doesn't change the fact that your motorcycle is loud as hell and you've decided to infiltrate undead infested lands in the dark!" Connor explained.

"What!? It's not dark yet, the sun hasn't set!" Markus chuckled.

"Yeah, but it's going to set in the next fifteen minutes and you are _well_ aware of this!" Connor argued.

Markus's reply was simply laughter.

* * *

True to his word Connor and Markus found themselves with the setting sun a mere fifteen minutes later, followed by creeping darkness as the huge orb vanished beneath the horizon and left them with only the stars and the moon as their light. Even with the moon being as bright as it was Markus found himself switching on the headlights to his motorcycle, illuminating the empty path before them.

"Aren't you tired?" Connor tried.

"Nope! How about you?"

"I'll manage," he lied, knowing full well that he could go for several days if he needed to before having to enter status and recharge. Markus, however, was a human and they had this nasty tendency of functioning at shit levels if they got too tired. It was something that he experienced often with Hank when they were on the road.

"Maybe we should stop and rest somewhere?" the android offered, "Besides Rutledge are there any secured buildings in Ellis?"

"I mean there probably are," Markus replied, "Though I have no clue which ones would qualify as 'secure'."

Connor found himself sighing internally. They were heading into unknown territory in the middle of the night on a motorcycle by themselves. Nobody knew where they were and neither Sumo nor his vest were here to keep the undead off Markus. He was going to have to stay on his toes if he wanted to keep his human friend alive.

"How mad do you think Hank's going to be?" Markus's voice called out.

"What?"

"That you snuck out! How mad is your dad going to be?"

"I think I should be asking _you_ that question! Isn't Carl going to worry about you?" Connor shot back.

"Yeah, but I do this sort of thing all the time. You don't seem like the type to just up and leave your family."

"You do this all the time!? You sneak out?"

"All the time Connor. It's fun being a rebel," Markus grinned.

"You're horrible," the android sighed, "But to answer your question I've never actually _left_ dad like this, so I honestly have no clue how he'll react."

"You've never left him like this?" Markus inquired, "Huh, I must be pretty special then!"

Connor found himself blinking in shock, his processors trying to come up with a response to that out of the blue statement. Tonight luck wasn't on his side and he found himself with only one response, "N-no!"

"No? I'm not that special? You just told me that you've never left your family before yet here you are, on my bike heading into what could best be described as a suicide mission and you're trying to tell me that I'm not special?"

"Seems legit," Connor replied.

"Oh yeah, one hundred percent legit," Markus laughed, "Hank's going to kick your ass once you get back."

"Oh I can almost guarantee it," Connor agreed.

* * *

Connor truthfully had no idea what Ellis would be like, what with Markus not revealing any information about the city during their motorcycle ride, but after a good hour he was able to pick up on what he could only assume to be the edge of the city.

What was really strange was the fact that it was surrounded by a huge wall.

"Was the wall built to keep out the undead?" Connor inquired.

"Quite the contrary; it was built to keep them inside Ellis. This was actually one of the first cities to have been hit with the virus."

"Ah. Is it a safe assumption that the wall failed?"

"It is, however it wasn't the undead that managed to break out; it was survivors who broke in."

Connor's eyes widened, "Was it the people of Jericho?"

"No, we weren't the first group to enter Ellis. From what Carl tells me it was actually the military that broke through. Used a tank and everything."

"Really? Why do you think that? Seems a bit counterproductive to crack open a city that's been sealed and filled with the undead."

"Carl says that the military believed that there was some sort of cure inside; the only way to save mankind was to open the city and retrieve it."

Connor quirked an eyebrow, "Really? That's news to me. Dad's never mentioned anything like that, and he's been on the hunt for a cure since the outbreak started."

"They went ahead with it, and everyone died," Markus explained, "Even after everything that happened the city was still in pretty good condition and we were able to make our way in after the shit storm and find a safe place to stay."

"Rutledge," Connor murmured, "After moving in did you try to restore the wall?"

"Nope. Way too much damage had been done. We need some heavy duty machinery to pull off the repairs, and even if we had the necessary equipment it'd be next to impossible with the undead walking around like they own the place."

"What made Rutledge so safe if the city was already compromised?"

"Well Rutledge used to be an apartment complex. It was twenty stories high, give or take, and offered us an excellent defense. We were able to get it to the point where there was only one main way in and the undead were unable to actually use it due to the whole 'being dumb as nails' thing they've got going on."

"Huh. Sounds interesting. In any case why did you leave Rutledge? Was it really just because you wanted to find somewhere else?"

"If only the reason was so simple. There were actually a lot of things that went into our decision to leave. It's a long, extremely dramatic story."

"Oh and how I detest the latter part of your statement. Could I possibly get a watered down version?" Connor inquired.

"Eh, let's just say that Carl and Rupert didn't see eye to eye on...a lot of things. It ended up becoming so bad that the settlement basically split and half of us headed out. I left quite a few friends behind."

"Are North, Simon and Josh from Rutledge?"

"Yeah, they chose to head out with the half that wanted to leave. It was for the best; once we split we suddenly began getting along fabulously."

"That sort of thing tends to happen when opposing sides are separated," Connor mused, "How long ago was this?"

"About a year, give or take."

"Did Rupert stay leader of Rutledge after everything went down?"

"Yeah. He's actually done a pretty good job since the split. Everything was peaches and cream up until a few weeks ago."

Connor frowned as they neared the giant wall that surrounded what was left of Ellis. From where they were he wasn't able to locate the breach of the wall's defenses. Apparently Markus knew where exactly they needed to look, for he got rather close before turning and beginning to follow the wall.

"What side are you heading to?"

"Where the breach occurred; we're not too far."

"Excellent. Mind telling me what your amazing plan is from here, because I really don't see us getting into Rutledge in the middle of the night in a city filled with the undead."

"Wow Connor, way to have faith in me," the human laughed.

"It's not a lack of faith; it's knowing that your plan has a very low chance of success. I would prefer if you would think this through a little more."

"Okay, would it make you feel better knowing that I don't plan on entering Rutledge tonight?"

"Then what _are_ you planning on doing?"

"Simple. We're going to enter the city through the breach, find ourselves a nice abandoned home and lay low until the sun rises."

"Are you freaking-that's your plan!?"

"You got a better one?"

"Yeah! Head back to Jericho! That plan has a damn near one hundred percent success rate!" Connor tried, though he was well aware that his words were going to fall on deaf ears.

"Nah I like my plan better-oh! There's the breach!"

The android sighed as he looked up, his eyes widening for a second. It was almost scary, the two of them on this little bike riding parallel to the giant wall that cast a dark shadow over them. It was easy to spot the breach once Markus rounded the wall enough, the moonlight struck through the darkness and was almost blinding in the night. Markus continued to drive, carefully turning into the breach once close enough.

Connor couldn't begin to describe just how shocked he was at the fact that there were absolutely no undead remotely near the entrance. The city of Ellis looked as if it had once been a pretty nice place to live, but the outbreak quickly took care of that. Now all of the roads were covered in abandoned cars, the homes that once housed families were either empty or filled to the brim with dead, but there were simply no undead in the streets.

Even Markus seemed surprised, "I was expecting a bit more of a welcome."

"Oh good, I'm not the only one who notices the complete lack of undead in this city," Connor replied as he looked around, "This doesn't make any sense. Your bike is plenty loud; the undead should be attempting to swarm you by now-which, again, proves that your original plan was and still is terrible."

"How often are you planning on bringing that fact up?"

"As many times as needed," Connor replied, "In any case I do think that your secondary plan of finding a place to lay low until morning has a much better chance at success. Where should we stay?"

Markus made a low hum as his mismatched eyes looked around. After a moment he spotted one of the townhouses complete with a balcony nearby. It looked abandoned enough and that balcony would offer a pretty good view of the area around them. Who knew, maybe they could get up there and figure out where the hell the undead were?

"How about that townhouse? That balcony looks like it'd be useful."

Connor poked his head out from behind Markus's shoulder to see where he was referring to. Once his eyes landed upon the house he did a quick scan. He was unable to figure out if there were any undead inside from this distance, but it seemed to be the best option they had at this point.

"Better than riding around on your bike all night. Let's give it a shot."

* * *

Markus found a safe place to park his motorcycle, right outside the townhouse as a matter of fact, and Connor found himself at the front door, subtly attempting to pull off a scan to see if there were any undead inside. Once again the scan came back negative, which was currently blowing the android's mind. Markus said this city was filled with the undead, how the hell were just...none around?

He looked over to Markus before reaching for the knob and giving it a twist, the handle turning with ease. Excellent, now all he had to do was push the door open-

A dull thud caught his attention, the door stopping mid-swing. Apparently the previous owners had decided to push something heavy in front of the door in an attempt to keep everyone else out. Connor wanted to say that it was a couch, but the item seemed just a bit too heavy for it to be just that.

He pulled a quick glance over to Markus to see if he was paying any attention to him (not for the moment), pulled his right foot back and kicked the door. Whatever the hell was pushed against it was harshly shoved out of the way as the door flew open, the android standing there with wide eyes at his handiwork.

"Connor! Are you okay?"

The android turned to Markus and-whoa when did he get so close!?

He stiffened out of shock for a moment before lightly smiling, "Oh yes, I'm quite alright! I was just opening the door," he offered by way of explanation as he pointed to said door, "Ta da!"

Markus frowned as he poked his head in and took a look around to see what exactly had been blocking their way in. After a moment he replied with, "Connor there was a fridge holding this door in place."

The android blinked in shock, "Seriously?" he inquired as he poked his head around the door as well seeing that, indeed, there was a rather large fridge that had been used as a barricade now shoved to the side, "Must be the world's lightest fridge," he offered.

"Or you're just a bad-ass," Markus mumbled as he looked the android over.

"Don't give me too much credit Markus," Connor replied as he made his way in, looking around the abandoned living room, "This place is trashed."

"Yeah, well all we need is a place to crash for the night," the human replied as he made his way in, Connor trailing behind him. Once inside he turned and carefully closed the door, glad to see that there had been little damage done by Connor's impressive kick.

"I'll check and see if there are any other doors leading out," the android offered as he made his way out of the room, his scanner still double and triple checking to make sure there weren't any undead wandering around. Again and again his scans came back negative, which somehow put him on edge. Not being able to detect the undead meant not knowing where they were, which could quickly become a problem for the two of them, mostly Markus, should they get surrounded.

Though as long as they kept quiet there wouldn't be anything catching their attention. Was this how humans felt all the time out here? Unable to tell where the threat was and if they would be safe for the night? The realization was unnerving.

A quick walk-through of the first floor showed that there was a back door leading out, however it was still in perfect condition with the ability to lock and everything. For being one of the first cities to fall to the undead the windows in this abandoned house were in excellent condition; not a single one was shattered. They were dirty beyond belief, but functional.

"So, does this place have your stamp of approval?" Markus asked as he rounded the corner, Connor blinking.

"My...stamp of approval?"

"Does it meet your standards is what I'm asking," the human explained with a smile.

"Technically speaking? No, it's a dump," Connor replied, "I can't be all negative about it; considering everything that's happened here it's not in the worst condition," he smiled back, not quite sure why.

"Come on, let's head upstairs," Markus urged as he made his way to the staircase in the kitchen, his machete out and ready just in case. Connor followed, again, scanning for threats and finding none.

The stairs lead into a hallway with four doors, two on each side. Markus carefully made his way to the one that he thought would lead to the balcony and lightly knocked against the door.

Only silence greeted him.

Satisfied that there wasn't an undead _right there_ waiting to rip his face off he reached down and twisted the knob before pushing the door open. He poked his head in before opening the door all the way, a soft sigh escaping his lips. The noise confused Connor, the android moving to walk in after him and finding himself pausing in the door frame.

The walls were a soft yellow with light blue and green spaceships painted all over the walls. The ceiling was black with little white dots all over and two beds, one on either side of the room, both following the theme of the room and looking like rockets.

Oh, this must've been a children's room before the outbreak.

Connor felt a small tug in his mind, a little voice telling him that this was a sad sight, that nobody would be able to live like this anymore. The children who had once lived here probably died in the initial outbreak, or if they hadn't then they'd never see their room again. The room itself was rather impressive and the android found himself a bit envious that this couldn't be his room.

Actually if he wanted he could stay here until his parts broke down and not be bothered by anyone, but that was besides the point.

He looked over to Markus, the human walking around and looking everything over, "Could you close the door?"

A moment later and the deed was done, Connor turning to face his friend, "Is everything okay?" he inquired.

"Yeah, everything's fine," was the response as he walked over to the window that lead out onto the roof balcony.

"You're not very good at lying."

"That bad, huh?"

"Indeed. Is there something wrong? Is it this room?"

"You could say that."

"Oh," Connor said, "Does this room bring back unpleasant memories of a sort?"

Markus chuckled, "Actually it's the opposite," he assured, "This room reminds me of my younger brother; he always loved space. He had been enthralled with it since he was only four years old."

"I never knew you had a brother," Connor offered, "Is it safe to assume that he's no longer with us?"

"Wow Connor! Way to be blunt!"

"I'm sorry!" the android apologized, raising his hands up in a timid motion of peace, "I didn't mean to offend!"

"Nah it's cool. Usually people figure out what happened and tell me that they're 'sorry' or something along those lines. You just went straight for the facts."

"I try. What was your brother like, aside from the whole liking outer space thing if you don't mind me asking?

"He was a cool guy," Markus replied as he reached over and pulled the window up and open before sticking his head out and making his way onto the balcony, "I accidentally broke his arm back when we were younger," he admitted.

"Really? I never pegged you as the sort of guy to do that to a kid," Connor replied as he followed Markus out onto the roof.

"Hey, I was really young back then! Besides I didn't do it myself, I may or may not have convinced him to get on the swings, get as high as he could and then jump off."

"Wait, you convinced someone to get on a swing set and then jump off at the highest point?" Connor inquired as he sat himself down.

"Gotta remember Connor, we were kids."

"Oh I'm well aware, but it's impressive that your skill in persuasion was so high at such a young age."

Markus gave the area one good look over before sitting down next to the android, "You think I'm persuasive?"

"I mean you're running around, convincing children to jump off swings, getting your friends to follow you on extremely dangerous missions to locate food for Jericho-"

"Convincing the cutest guy I know to go on a ride with me," Markus added.

"Yeah-wait what?" Connor stumbled, his wide gaze snapping onto Markus. Underneath his beanie his LED was rapidly switching between yellow and red and he found himself at a loss for words. Hank would lose his shit knowing that Markus had discovered a way to shut him up.

"Well yeah. Haven't you seen the way I've been looking at you? _All_ of my friends have been giving me shit about it."

"Huh?"

Markus chuckled, "You've usually got so much to say, it's endearing seeing you like this."

"Did you just imply that my current state is _cute_?" Connor inquired, knowing that normally such a statement would bother him but he found no ill-intent from Markus.

The crazy human actually thought he was being cute.

Markus thought he was cute.

Markus _liked_ him.

"Connor? You okay in there?"

The android was pulled out of his stupor, his eyes blinking in shock as he nervously laced his fingers together in his lap and made an effort to look anywhere that wasn't Markus.

"Connor?"

His efforts were in vain, for the android's eyes locked with his human's.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Yes," the lack of hesitation was astonishing.

Time seemed to slow down around them as Markus leaned forward, their lips ghosting for a brief moment before the distance was crossed and Connor found himself with his eyes closed, complete with the source of his affection holding onto his arms. Markus pulled back after a moment, holding Connor at arm's length as he looked him over.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

The android was confused, "For what?"

"Look at where we are. We're on a roof, in the middle of Ellis. There are no undead anywhere, we're out here by ourselves, this plan was thought of on a whim-it's probably the worst plan I've ever come up with, nothing makes any fucking sense, Kara's probably dead but all I want to do is keep kissing you."

Connor found himself wishing that he could blush like humans did and hoping that Markus wouldn't notice the severe lack of said blush. Instead he opted to reach up and tug his beanie down a bit more in fear of his blue LED peeking out.

"While coming here was a pretty dumb plan, kissing me has been one of your smarter ones," he encouraged.

"So, could I kiss you again?"

"Yes. Thank you for asking," he could've sworn the smile Connor gave him could light up the night.

And so he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, that ending scene was a BITCH to write guys! Romantic scenes have always been where my writing is the weakest; usually I have my best friend writing with me and we get some pretty magical shit to happen! I'm writing this story solo, however and had to work to get that final scene out and sounding the way I wanted. You can all thank Duality by Fractal for this magical moment! Fun fact: This whole story has been typed up while listening to songs from the record label Monstercat. If you're into EDM (my favorite genre) and haven't heard of them, check them out!
> 
> Take care of yourselves, my sweet readers! I'm in the middle of a nine day work streak so my next update should be...in the future!
> 
> In the next episode: Love AND zombies!!!!!! 8D

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a kudos if you like it, leave a comment; it's up to you. I've got plans for this man, PLANS.
> 
> Also, I work a zillion hours a week so this isn't going to be updated daily. Probably weekly...ish.


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